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The only "problem" I've ever had with a Rough Rider was on a Twisted Bone Canoe.
When I took the knife out of the box, the shield decided to stay in the box.
A couple drops of super glue fixed it.

I've seen reports of the shields falling off knives that cost many times more than a Rough Rider, and out of the 50 Rough Riders I have, this is the first one to leave the shield behind.
My personal opinion is Rough Rider meets or beats the quality of pretty much any other production knife, no matter where it is made, or how much it costs.
At the other knife forum I belong to, I've seen folks who own both, compare the Rough Riders favorably to GEC and Queen, some have gone so far as to say the Rough Rider is better than the GEC and Queen, in some ways. For example, they've never gotten a Rough Rider the factory ... "forgot" ... to sharpen ... or even forgot to put a bevel on the blade so the edge is thinner/sharper than the spine.

As I have mentioned before, I am a rough rider fan. I would go so far as to say they made some other manufactures, on and off shore, tighten up on quality. Competition is a good thing. I have to admit though, they do not always have the "feel" I am looking for in a knife. I am an old fashion kinda gal and I do like my knife to have that solid, I can do anything with it, feel.

For the sake of this discussion we will simply go with the 2 you have mentioned. GEC is a knife with a hefty good feel. I can put one in my hand and know it is built, if I can open the backspring I will be positive of that build. This particular company builds a knife to withstand time...and I own many

Queen, this is a company that has recently been giving GEC a run for their money in my opinion. Built as a user with a collector in mind! They not only build the knives to stand up, they price them where you dont feel obligated to have them only as a safe queen. These days it is just as likely I will have my Queen barlow on me than any other knife.

Your correct, either of these companies may send out a knife not worthy of their name on occasion. My personal experience has been that they will make it right. While the collector in me screams if I have waited on my knife only to have to return it for a better one, the practical in me says that any knife with human hands doing a large portion of the build has the possibility of error. I am willing to undergo the anticipation again just to get it right in my hand.

Bear in mind, this is my personal opinion, as unworthy as it may be by anothers standards.

I'm not sure, J.J.
I know that when SMKW moved the Colt line of carbon steel knives over to Rough Rider (they lost the rights to the Colt label for some reason, I've no clue why) they changed the factory where they were built.
The first few thousand Rough Rider Carbon Steel knives were tang stamped "440 Stainless" or "Stainless Steel".
QC missed it. After some knife knut customers brought the inconsistancy to SMKW's attention, SMKW said that these were the first Carbon Steel knives made at that particular factory, and the wrong tang stamp was used.
The error has been corrected, but I don't know if the carbon steel knives marked "Stainless" are, or will be more valuable to a collector in the future.
I know all the mis-stamped knives were sold, though, and an explanation was put in the box, assuring the customer the knife did indeed have carbon steel blades.

(Come to that, you can tell just by looking.
I have a Colt carbon steel canoe, and several Rough Rider canoes. The Colt blades are roughly twice as thick, and are swedged. The stainless steel Rough Rider canoes do not have swedges, even if they have the same blade coating, like the Zombie Nick boasts.)